Dave the Cave Eco Lodge and Cultural Campsite

Location: Nyanzibiri, Rubirizi Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, Rubirizi, ug

Star Rating: 9 Stars

Property Type: Lodges

About this Property

Important Information

Policies

Check-in: 07:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Check-out: 10:00 AM

Amenities & Facilities

• Offsite parking discounted rates available
• Guest education on local ecosystems and culture
• Parking
• Restaurant
• Room service
• Family rooms
• Pets allowed
• BBQ facilities
• Car hire
• Shuttle service (additional charge)
• Outdoor furniture
• Pet bowls
• Staff adhere to local safety protocols
• First aid kit available
• Invoice provided
• Guests can opt-out any cleaning services during stay
• Key access
• Food delivered to guest room
• Access to health care professionals
• 24-hour security
• Cooking class
• Shopping on site
• Free wired internet
• Airport transportation - pickup (surcharge)
• Airport transportation - drop-off (surcharge)
• Offsite parking discounted rates available
• Internet access
• Concerts/live shows
• Private picnics
• Japanese garden
• Secured parking
• Fishing nearby
• Charcoal grill
• Guest education on local ecosystems and culture
• Vegetarian menu options available
• Paddle boating nearby
• Accessible shuttle
• No accessible shuttle
• Accessible train station shuttle
• No accessible train station shuttle

Rooms Available

• Double Room with Lake View

  This double room has a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit has 1 bed.

  Max Occupancy: 2 (2 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Budget Double Room

  This double room features a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit offers 1 bed.

  Max Occupancy: 2 (2 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Double Room

  This double room has a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit has 1 bed.

  Max Occupancy: 2 (2 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Family Bungalow

  This family room has a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit has 4 beds.

  Max Occupancy: 6 (6 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Family Room with Balcony

  This family room features a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit offers 1 bed.

  Max Occupancy: 4 (4 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Basic Triple Room

  This triple room has a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit has 1 bed.

  Max Occupancy: 3 (3 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Double Room with Shared Bathroom

  This double room has a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit has 1 bed.

  Max Occupancy: 2 (2 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

• Basic Triple Room with Shared Bathroom

  This triple room has a desk, a balcony, lake views and a private bathroom. The unit has 2 beds.

  Max Occupancy: 4 (4 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Desk
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Slippers
  • Additional toilet
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Toilet paper
  • Trash cans
  • Socket near the bed
  • Key access

Guest Reviews

• Charles (10/5): - After several years of travelling, i can honestly say this is the closest ive felt to being back home in Canada. Very much a 'cottage' feel to this place. Comfy bed, hot shower, peaceful setting. And Dave the owner is just a wonderful human being! The tradeoff for having a waterfront cabin set off in the woods is no internet in your room (but good connection at the office/restaurant). Put your phone away and enjoy nature or read a book!
• Laureline (9/5): l'un de nos lieux préféré durant le séjour, le site est sublime et les hebergements grands - Le site sublime Les installations en bois La terrasse avec les singes en voisin pour déjeuner Les repas L'immense bungalow familial avec vue sur le lac la gentillesse du personnel La proximité du parc l'eau chaude La piste pour atteindre le logement, un peu sportive quand il pleut!
• Charlotte (10/5): We loved Dave the Cave! - We arrived after a long day’s travel from Kisoro and we were welcomed with a refreshing cup of herbal tea from Dave’s own garden, which was delicious. This property has an enormous amount of rustic charm. Our cabin was very comfortable and clean and also very spacious. It was lovely to have a view overlooking the lake, with our own veranda, where we enjoyed our own morning coffee and an afternoon sun bathing and reading our book. This place is very special. You’ll see monkeys happily wandering around the grounds. The food is wholesome and home grown and the coffee is fantastic having been grown and roasted on the premises. The staff are friendly and helpful and a special mention has to go to Selly, he was so patient with all our silly questions but helped to make our stay very special. Thank you to Dave, Selly and all the staff. I would say just book it, perfect base for the Queen Elizabeth National Park and don’t miss the Kazinga Channel boat tour. Nothing
• oriman tours (9/5): - A perfect place to rest after a long safari game drive. Nestled next to an almost private crater lake that you can swim in. Dave is the perfect host, and in the evening, you can sit by the campfire and have a chat with the other travelers. The restaurant is very good. nothing comes to mind.
• Karolyly (10/5): Precioso lugar - El sitio es precioso, está dentro de un crater a la orilla de un lago. Me encantó, estuve dos noches pero no me dio tiempo disfrutar de él. Las cabañas grandes, el desayuno muy bueno, el personal super amable.
• Julien (10/5): Best accomadation near Queen Elizabeth - Le personnel, le lieu, le repas, le jardin plein de plantes, de fruits et de legumes ...
• Sianan (10/5): - Loved our stay at Dave the Cave, the staff were super welcoming and they even helped us book the chimp trek for cost price.
• Manuel (10/5): Exceptional - un lugar ideal para descansar nice pkace to enjoy and rest
• Brouwer (8/5): A lot of fun. Cultural cooking was an experience we won’t ever forget - It was very nicely set-up, it felt like being one with nature. The staff were very helpful and friendly! The walk way to our unit was a bit steep and especially at night when it had rained it was very slippery
• Peter (8/5): Very good -
• Maxim (9/5): Superb -
• Cindy (10/5): Exceptional - Super beautiful lake to swim and such a nice view from the room and restaurant and super friendly staff!
• Alexandra (5/5): Backpackers may welcome it, but I’ve stayed in hostels that have better standards. - The chef was very good, dinner delicious. The place is rundown. Stairs to the dining area are ridiculously steep and uneven.
• Dominik (10/5): Excellent go to place for good food, unique location, friendly staff and a clean mosquito free and comfortable bed! - Fantastic location in the forest. Even monkeys came to visit us
• Susan (3/5): Back packing quality - but not a backpacking price! - The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, and the location was very good. The food was also okay. Speaking as a person who has lived and worked through out Africa throughout my lifetime, I feel duty-bound to warn others against staying here. I would imagine that many years ago, it was probably a fun back-packing type of place, with an air of rural authenticity. Sadly, it has now become very neglected, masquerading under a banner of being "eco-friendly". In reality, everything is run down and badly in need of maintenance. The rooms are filthy, with holes in the screen windows, and holes in the mosquito nets, which did not fit the beds. We have been campers for many years, so we are used to rugged conditions, but this was just neglectful, at an unjustifiable price. Finally, when we asked for a gin and tonic, we were told that as the bottle had not yet been opened, we would have to buy the whole bottle if we wanted one drink! Are you kidding me? Note to travellers: avoid this - there are many nicer places, at an even lower cost (maybe ok for backpackers, but not really a cheap option). Note to owner: thank you for your friendliness, but you would do well to clean up and improve your place!
• Annemiek (9/5): Superb - What a place! Beautiful views, easy to walk to the view point over both crater lakes, possibility to take a swim in the crater lake, and close to Kalinzu forest if you want to do the chimps trekking. Food was good and staff super friendly and ready to help with whatever you need. The room was comfortable and the view from the shower over the lake is just amazing! It's a bit expensive, but on the other hand, you get quite a lot for it.
• Fritz (10/5): Everytine again. A must when you go to QENP - It’s a stunning place and there is so much to explore
• Frederik (10/5): Highly recommended to everyone visiting Queen Elizabeth Park. - Great food, friendly staff and beautiful surroundings. A bedside lamp would have been nice.
• Evan (10/5): Exceptional - Swimming in the Crater Lake was epic as well as seeing it from my balcony along with the vervet monkeys. Although they have various cottages, mine had small of a bedroom but they have plans to remodel it. The shower had a great tropical view. The staff were amazingly friendly and accommodating, the food was tasty and had generous portions. Most of the food is grown onsite and includes lots of herbal teas. The owner, David, has a warm spirit and really loves plants and trees. If you want to learn about herbal medicine, he can give you hours' worth of knowledge with a cheerful reverence for nature. Speaking of nature, their nature walk guides are excellent knowing the local species of birds and trees. They can give you tours of perhaps the biggest trees you've ever seen in the nearby rainforest as well as walking around the other nearby Crater lakes, sometimes in villages and other times in nature. This is truly a special place that I will definitely return to.
• Peter (10/5): Great experience among nature - Dave the Cave is an amazing location in the middle of a small forest, with monkeys climbing the trees around you. Staff is great and the food is very good. I came on my motorcycle, that they covered for me during the night without being asked. Great experience
• James (10/5): Wonderful place with wonderful people. - Very beautiful with incredible views. All built imaginatively with care and great attention. Each cottage unique. Spacious. Incredible fresh food. The team did everything they could to make our stay enjoyable. We did a long guided walk, learnt local cooking and loved swimming in the lake. All was good.
• Daniel (8/5): Perfect palce - simple - in the middle of nature - monkeys direct in the trees! - If you look for a simple place - ecolodge, situated a bit away from the mainstreet direct located at a fresh water lake where you can swim (safley), and if you are lucky monkeys watching playing in the tress and around, and you want to be at low comfort/no luxus in the middle of nature - welcome! - But please don´t await a TV! My friend and me really much enjyoed the palce for 3 nights. We asked the owner for a recomandation for a local guide to visit Queen Elisabeth National Par. - He called and very experienced one (30 years working as a guide) and we took him. We paid for a whole day including entrance fee to park (2 people - (international and 1 Ugandan) plus guide inclduing 4 WD car and including petrol for an 11 hours tour approx. 230 USD! Nothing to claim. They serve food if you like 3 times a day - breakfast included, everything else to be paid. - If you walk to main street is approx. 1,5 km. - We arrived their with our own car!
• Sidse (10/5): Incredible place with amazing staff and people - The place was beautifully located in wild nature near a lake. The hosts were incredibly kind and welcoming, and made us feel at home. The animals (both monkeys and dogs) added a special feeling to the place as well. There is not really anything bad to say about this place. Unfortunately the road going their is not the best, and can be a bit tricky. But it adds to the adventure you are already on :)
• Schlaich (9/5): Perfect place for relaxing and doing some safari - Staff was so friendly and helpful, helped a lot in organizing the safaris It’s in the middle of the nature… good location in order to switch off for a few days Breakfast was pretty decent The bathroom area could be improved… but the manager already told me that they gonna refurbish it the upcoming weeks
• Christin (10/5): Exceptional - This place was all in all joyful to stay at. I had an amazing time with excellent staff and everything was considered and well taken care of.
• Sander (9/5): Would love to come back - Very relaxed place in beautiful nature with a lovely staff. Mr David grows fresh produce in his vegetable garden and if you stay for dinner you can taste it! The camp fires after dinner were very cosy. Special mention to Medi (our first son) who made us feel welcome from the start. Just make sure you have a good car (4x4) to drive the last little dirt road. When dry it’s fine, when wet it gets slippery.

Photos